Senior officials from Russia and the US met in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to begin talks on improving ties and negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine. Delegations led by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met at the Diriyah Palace in Riyadh. The meeting marks another pivotal step by the Trump administration to reverse US policy on isolating Russia and is meant to pave the way for a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump earlier this month upended US policy toward Ukraine and Russia by saying he and Putin had agreed to begin negotiations on ending the war. Ukrainian officials aren’t taking part in the meeting, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that his country won’t accept the outcome if Kyiv doesn’t take part. Rubio was accompanied by US national security adviser Mike Waltz and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, while Lavrov sat next to the Kremlin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov. Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan and national security adviser Musaed al Alban joined Rubio, Lavrov and others for the start of the meeting but were expected to leave early in the talks. Ushakov said Monday the talks would be “purely bilateral” and would not include Ukrainian officials.